The Reminiscence of Childhood Antics
by angelwings2400
Summary: Short one-shots of the Fenton family, mostly centered on Danny and Jazz in their younger years, continuing onward to adulthood.
1. Popcorn

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

When Daniel Fenton first came into the family, Jasmine Fenton was at first unsure of what to think. She was very happy with her life with Mommy and Daddy, even if their neighbors complained about loud explosions and their weirdness. She didn't know if she wanted a sibling, much less a younger brother.

But when two-and-three-quarter-year-old Jazzy held her brother for the first time, and saw those beautiful blue eyes and heart-melting smiles, she thought she could spare a little room in their family.

That is until they got a little older.

* * *

The Fenton family were very well know for their eccentricities; heck, the entire town called the couple ghost-obsessed loons. Jazz herself started to call them that when she reached age six.

Their actual intelligence, however, was overlooked. They were each geniuses in their own field, with Jack being his creativeness and gadgets, and Maddie being her combat training and performance in the field. They both had their degrees in chemical science as well.

Their children were also very intelligent, and both considered geniuses. Jazz was extremely smart, and supposedly had her entire career planned out for psychology. Her knowledge in vocabulary and grammar were evident in the way she spoke, often making adults do double takes.

Danny was smart, like his sister. But while adults say she was very levelheaded and mature for her age, Danny was the complete opposite.

Or as Jazz liked to say, he was the Devil in cute-little-brother-disguise.

Danny Fenton was devious, and extremely clever. And Jazz was positive his main goal in life was make her's living hell.

One of his methods to succeed in his goal: popcorn.

He loved popcorn, and whenever they were at the store he'd beg Mom to get a lifetime supply that he'd finish in about a week. She'd say yes, of course, taken in by that deceiving grin of his. Jazz wasn't fooled.

So when seven-year-old Jazz came to her room after finishing her homework, she was less that pleased to find a few bags worth of popped corn in her bed sheets.

"_DANNY_!"

* * *

Popcorn. Everywhere, every waking minute, there was popcorn. Jazz had woken up to find popcorn in her clothes drawers, dirtying her school wardrobe with the buttery snack.

Popcorn on the floor. On her bed. In the light. On the windowsill. Some were even taped to the walls.

Screaming in rage, Jazz threw open the door of her room, ignoring the plethora of popcorn nestled in her hair, and stomped to her brother's room. She threw open the door, not bothering to knock-

And a cardboard bucket of popcorn kernels fell right onto her head.

She stopped, vaguely registering the loud laughing of her little brother. She lifted the cardboard bucket off her head, letting the kernels cascade onto the floor.

And little Danny just kept laughing and laughing, knowing that his noble sacrifice of his favorite snack had paid off.

* * *

**Okay, so I probably shouldn't be doing this. A lot of people want me to continue Lost Obsession, and I swear I am. These are just little oneshots that I would rather have written down before I forget them. **

**Anyway, this new series of one-shots will be mostly dedicated to the Fenton family, and all the antics that involve Danny. Most of them are based off of true stories that my great-aunt told me. **

**My grandfather died recently, and only after his death am I hearing all these wonderful stories about his childhood. This one in particular was something my G-Pa devised up when he was younger, including the whole cardboard bucket deal. **

**In essence, this new series will be infrequently updated, mostly based off of stories of my grandfather's childhood. Hope you like it.**

**Cover image can be found here: art/Kid-jazz-149407377**

**Until next time. **


	2. Curious

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

Maddie was doing the laundry when she first saw it. She wasn't surprised in the least that little Danny had taken a liking to electronics, but finding a screw in his sheets definitely made her pause.

She shifted the bundle of sheets in the crook of her arm, studying the screw. It was just a normal screw, not very large or tiny. It wasn't the ones they used for ecto-weaponry, which eased her mind a little. The screws for those were a special alloy of copper and steel, better receptive to ectoplasm. This was just a normal screw, probably from a flashlight. She placed the small screw on his nightstand.

She smiled to herself. She could already imagine it: he baby boy following in her and Jack's footsteps…

* * *

The next week when she was washing the sheets again, she found two more screws. It didn't surprise her either, but she was a little curious to where he was getting them. And where did he get a screwdriver? He could have gotten one in the lab, but he shouldn't be going in there...well, what's the worst that could happen?

She once again put the screws on Danny's nightstand, smiling to herself the whole time.

* * *

Maddie Fenton shuffled down the stairs in her soft, fluffy slippers while her husband trudged behind her, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. It was a Saturday, and their kids were apparently already up.

"Hey, you two. What are you doing up so early?" Maddie asked. Jazz stopped glaring at Danny for a moment and peered up at her mother.

"Ben Franklin says, 'early to bed, early to rise makes a man...er, person, healthy, wealthy, and wise,'" she said, while Maddie pondered where she found that quote. "And I heard Danny _sneaking _around downstairs."

Danny looked up with an incredulous expression, but humor-filled eyes. "Sneaking? _Sneaking?" _the clever eight-year old said in his adorable high voice, "Innocent little brother walks by Jazzy's room and you accuse him of _sneaking_."

"Well, what were you doing, then?" Jazz said, scowling.

Danny grinned impishly. "Sneaking."

Maddie giggled a bit. She was at first a little hesitant to allow her children to watch that movie, but hearing their pleas for days and then joined with their father's whining, she gave in.

She ruffled her son's hair, then said, "Alright, Smeagol, let's make break-"

_CRASH! _

The Fenton family jumped, one of them shouting 'ghost!'. They slowly peered around the corner, where a broken clock lay on the hallway floor, broken with several parts missing.

Little Danny looked at the clock for a second. "Hehe, wonder how that happened!" he said as he slipped a few more screws and a mini screwdriver in his pocket.

* * *

**The first two chapters of this series have been finished for a while; I just wanted them both up. Still working on other things, yadda yadda yadda. **

**Until next time. **


	3. Timed

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. **

* * *

Danny was an odd kid; a smart kid, but odd. For example, like with popcorn, he had a strange obsession with timers.

He loved to time everything; throughout the day one could hear the loud 'ding!' of his timer every so often. His parents had an easy time ignoring it, but it drove his sister insane. Which just gave the little guy more incentive to do it.

The little devil himself was at the table, doing his fourth grade homework. He had his bright blue timer set for ten minutes, so he spent ten minutes for each subject of homework, then moved to the next subject.

Jazz was at the table too, reading a college level book, even though she was still in sixth grade. Her parents and teachers had offered her to skip a grade, so she wouldn't be as bored, but she declined. All her friends were in sixth grade, and even though she was a prodigy at english and science, math was sometimes difficult for her. Danny, however, was a prodigy at it.

The loud timer went off, making Jazz jerk and spill her glass of water. She seethed at her little brother, who snorted and cheekily grinned at her.

"Can you _please _stop using that timer? Just check the clock if you need it!" Jazz said.

"But then I would miss out on making you crazy," he retorted, cackling. He put away his cursive practice and brought out his math. He didn't need ten minutes for it; he could probably finish it in five.

"Ugh, you're such a pest!" Jazz cried as she stomped up stairs, her heaving book cradled in her arms.

"_Wow," _Danny thought. _"She must really hate timers." _He pondered this for a second, a devious grin settling on his cute face as he thought up a plan to make his sister actually _need _her stupid books about the mind.

He put away his homework, grabbed his timer, and went upstairs to his room. He crawled under his bed, reaching the model train set he'd gotten for Christmas. He opened the box, a giggle escaping his lips.

He immediately set to work.

Jazz was dreaming, she knew that. She had long since been able to tell when she was dreaming and when she was not, but that didn't mean she wouldn't enjoy her dream while it lasted. She was with her parents, who were dressed like normal people for once, and they were driving in a big van. She sat in the back, with Bearbert Einstein in her lap.

Suddenly, a loud ring ran though the dream. She knew it was Danny's timer, but that couldn't be right. A loud whistle joined it, and she jerked in alarm, seeing that they were headed for a collision on a train track, and-

Jazz jerked up, shouting. She fumbled with her blankets, trying to get loose of the cocoon of sheets. She ended up falling to the floor, near the bottom of her bed frame.

She looked underneath her bed, finding the source of the noise. It was Danny's timer, along with his model train set. It was running happily and loudly, going in a circle under her bed. She looked at the clock, seeing it was 3 a.m.

"DANNY!"

"Now Danny, I know you enjoy pranking your sister from time to time," Jack said at dinner looking pointedly at his son, "but try not to take it _too _far." He winked.

Danny gave him a big smile. "I won't Daddy. I promise."

Jazz hmphed, crossing her arms. They were seated in the living room, having a talk about Jazz's scare at 3 a.m. Maddie had not approved, but Jack was impressed that he had wired the toy train to start when the timer went off. He wondered how he did that…

"Alright prankster, time for you to go to bed," Maddie said. He complied without a complaint, which was sometimes worrying seeing as he sometimes stayed up after his parents went to bed to set up his schemes.

So that night, Maddie stayed up a little later than usual to make sure Danny was asleep in his bed. When she saw his comforter steadily rise and fall with his breathing, she knew all was well.

That is until Jazz's scream and their obnoxiously loud vacuum cleaner going off at 3 a.m. in her closet.

* * *

**So this is the last chapter I had prewritten, so it might be a while before I write the next one. I plan on having the next one involve a little Sam Manson, so be prepared for cute friendship scenes!**

**If you have any critiques, please don't hesitate to tell me. And if you think flames are critiques, go ahead and write those too. **

**Until next time. **


	4. 1: Meetings

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

Jack and Maddie stood in the kitchen, working on their newest project. It was an energy scanner/sensor, which would be sold to the government. Their main focus may be ghost hunting, but they did have to bring the money in from _somewhere. _

"Jack, did you hear about Ida?" Maddie said as she bent over to rewire the device she was making the final touches on.

"Who?"

Maddie sighed exasperatedly. "Ida McDevitt, the woman who lives next door?"

Jack wracked his memory, then it came to him. "Oh! You mean the lady who gave us fudge?"

Maddie stifled a snicker. If a person gave her husband fudge, he would never forget them. "Yes, she is, Jack. She's a nice lady...anyway, she's having her granddaughter stay with her for a few weeks while her daughter and son-in-law go on a cruise. She's about Danny's age, and she's arriving tonight."

"Danny's age, huh?" Jack said as he fiddled with his invention.

"Mhmm," she said, baiting him. When she saw it wasn't going to work, she said, "Maybe we could introduce them? Give Danny someone to play with?" Danny didn't have many friends other than Tucker, and he had been on vacation for most of the summer. The nine-year-old was going to drive his sister up the wall if his time wasn't occupied with something other than pranking.

"Huh...yeah! We could set up a _playdate,_" Jack said, saying the last word excitedly. His children were hardly even children in his eyes; Jazz mostly wanted to stay in her room and read, and Danny wasn't very social with anyone other than Tucker.

Maddie smiled. "Yes, we certainly could. I believe the little girl's name is Samantha…"

* * *

"Grandma, what are we going to do? Can we go to the park? I want to feed the geese you were talking about!"

Ida McDevitt looked down at her granddaughter, smiling and shaking her head. "Bubeleh, the geese I told you about attacked the person who fed them. Why on Earth would you want to feed them?"

Sammy Manson pondered this for a second, then said, "I can train them before they attack me...yeah! I could totally do that!" She nodded her head confidently.

Ida chuckled. "Maybe next time. We can go to the park; however, no feeding the geese. Understood?"

Sammy groaned. "Yes, ma'am."

The park was great; it was just like Sammy imagined it: green grass, big oak trees; just simple looking. And definitely no snooty rich kids around.

She took off immediately to the swings, her grandmother following her. There was a park near her house in California, but she hardly ever got to go there and her mom would only let her play on the kiddie swings. She hadn't been on a _real _swing in forever!

She climbed on the big swing, the soles of her shoes slightly touching the ground. Yes! That means she could push herself this time!

Sammy happily swung back and forth on the swing, laughing the entire time. After a few minutes she noticed the boy sitting on the swing next to her, who was barely swaying.

The park was mostly empty due to the cloudy weather, but apparently there was another kid here. Sammy slowed her swinging down a bit, peering over at the boy.

"Hey!" She said. "Why aren't you swinging?"

The boy looked up, and she got a peek of his cerulean eyes. _"Whoa," _she thought. _"His eyes are really blue!" _

He shrugged his shoulders, and then looked down again. He was looking at his hands, where he was fiddling with a...thing.

"What's that?" she asked as her swinging became idle.

"Oh, this? It's my dad's. I think he called it a...energy sensor? Yeah, that's what it is. He told me I could play with it."

"You're taking it apart though."

"Yeah, that's the fun part!"

"Really?" Sammy had never taken something apart before, or fixed anything. Anything that was broken was always replaced, and her mother wouldn't let her within a foot of a screwdriver or any other tool. "Can I see?"

He gave the device to her. She saw that the slide covering the wiring had been removed, exposing the complicated system of copper and silicon. "Woooaaahh, this is cool! I've never seen the inside of a machine before."

"Really?" the boy said. "I see them all the time! Do you even play with technology?"

"Of course I do! I just don't take it apart." She gave the energy sensor back to him.

"Huh," the boy turned slightly in the swing to get a good look at her. She noticed that he had thick black eyebrows, matching his dark raven hair. "Me and my friend Tucker take them apart all the time. Well, he likes to take apart the software more than the hardware, but that's still fun."

"Hardware? Software?" Sammy questioned. She'd heard the terms before, but she never really knew what they were.

The boy giggled, and then said, "Hardware's all the wires and stuff you see when you take the tech apart. Software is when you mess with what makes the machine do what it does. I don't really know how to do it, but I think it's got a lot of numbers. Tucker says it's called 'hacking'."

"Numbers? Like math? That's boring," she said, making a face. She didn't like her fourth grade math homework, and was extremely glad to not have to do it over the summer. Why would someone do it for fun?

He shrugged. "Ask Tuck."

Then Sammy realized something. "Hey, what's your name? I'm Sammy," she said, sticking her hand out.

"I'm Danny," he said as he took her hand. He squeezed it hard and shook it up and down jerkily. Sammy laughed and shook his even harder. Danny brought his hand up and down hard, and they soon fell off the motionless swings and into the soft tanbark.

They laughed again and sat up, not bothering to brush the bark off themselves. Sammy giggled. "That was fun," she said.

"Yeah." Danny giggled with her but then stopped when he heard a name calling him from a distance. They looked behind them, by the pond, and Sammy saw a small woman with red hair and a weird blue outfit.

"Aw...I gotta go now." Danny stood up. "I'll see you later, Sam!" He ran off.

Sammy got up too, and then realized what he said. "It's Sammy!" she yelled after him.

* * *

**So I told you that the next chapter would involve Sam, so here it is. In this universe, Sam's grandmother lived here before her parents moved to Amity Park, but then old age caught up to her and she had to stay in a wheelchair. So now her parents take care of her in Amity Park. Just for this summer, though, little Sammy's staying with her grandmother. Who happens to live next door to our favorite crazy family. **

**The next two chapters will be like this one, all involving Sam and Danny and probably Jazz. This is the first one, and the next one is called Schemings. **

**If you have any critiques you want to share, please don't hesitate!**

**Until next time. **


	5. 2: Schemings

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. **

* * *

"Sorry, I'm afraid Jazzy's in the hospital. She has this terrible disease-"

"Danny!"

The fourth-grader flinched, turning his head from the boy at the door to his mother standing behind him. He smiled nervously, knowing he was in trouble. The boy who knocked just stood there confused.

Maddie sighed. "Jazz is in the bathroom, she'll be out in a bit. Why don't you wait in the living room?"

Jazz's friend nodded, and walked inside. When he went down the hall, Maddie turned to her son. "Danny! How many times to I have to tell you. You can't tell Jazz's friends that she's in the hospital, has a contagious disease, or dying!"

"Awwww but it's fun!"

Maddie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Why does her son find such fun in tormenting her eldest? "Go to your room, Danny, and don't come out until dinner."

Danny groaned and pouted, but eventually shuffled his feet upstairs. Great; now he was stuck in his boring room by himself. Well, I guess he wasn't all by himself…

He opened the door to his room, and closed it behind him. He went over to the window, opening it after he wrote his message.

After he had discovered that Sammy was living in Mrs. McDevitt's house for the summer, he was thrilled. She would have to leave once summer was over, but that was fine. The only problem was that Mrs. McDevitt was having back problems, and so he couldn't see Sammy that much.

So they made their own sort of letter network. Neither of them had phones that could text and Danny couldn't make one (yet) so they resorted to using letters. Danny had a long piece of wire strung from his room to their guest room where Sammy was staying at. Then, he had taken off a few wheels off his train set and made a sort-of pulley to carry messages to and from their windows. Since Sammy's window was slightly higher than his, he had to attach another wire to the roof so he could pull the message up the wire to her.

Danny set the message into place on the mini cart, and then pulled the string so that it went all the way to Sam's window. He pulled slightly back and forth to knock on it with the pulley a bit, so she would know he had a message.

A few seconds later the black haired girl opened the window, sending a smile that Danny could barely make out. Their houses were kind of far apart.

_Hey Sam_

About a minute later the pulley came zipping down the line, since it was slightly downward. It hit the piece of foam Danny had placed so it would absorb the shock, and then he grabbed the message.

_It's Sammy, butthead. XP_

Danny rolled his eyes. He wrote his message then carted it up the wire.

_Sammy sounds too much like Danny. Sam's cooler. _

Despite the long distance, he could hear her exasperated sound from his room.

_Whatever. What's up?_

_I got sent to my room for telling one of Jazzy's boyfriends that she was dying._

_Why? _

_Why did I get sent to my room or why did I tell him that?_

_Both. _

_I told him because its fun to mess with Jazz and I got sent to my room cuz I got caught. :(_

_That sucks. You must take revenge!_

_I can't prank my mom anymore. She'll just ground me for longer, and then my Dad will get mad at me. It's one thing for Mom to get angry, but Dad's kinda scary when he's mad._

_Then prank Jazzy. The perfect solution!_

Danny reread the message with glee. This was perfect! But what should he do…?

_Yes! That's perfect! But what could we do?_

_You could do that popcorn thing again. _

He cackled when he remembered the popcorn incident so many years ago. He had reused that prank a few times since then.

_That one's too old and overdone. We gotta think of a new one!_

_Tarantula in the bed?_

He frowned as he read the message. He knew his mother would probably ground him for life if he got a tarantula or any other animal in the house.

_No animals. My mom would kill me!_

_You're pretty good with your screwdriver. How bout you make her lights flicker on and off till she goes crazy?_

Danny thought for a bit. That did sound cool; but he had no idea how to do it.

_I dunno how to do that. Maybe something simple?_

_Dude! I have the perfect prank! We might need to get some stuff, but its so worth it…_

He read the rest of the message, an evil grin spreading on his face as he finished. This was awesome! Sure, he needed to get rid of the rest of his popcorn and some of his other snack food, but this was going to be so great!

* * *

**So this one came out pretty quick. In fact, I finished the last one in Geometry and this one after softball practice. Man, I am extremely obsessed. At least this one is short. **

**So the next one will be the last one, and it will have the ending prank in it and Sam's goodbye. **

**Oh, and just to be clear, Danny and Sam have just graduated the third grade. So they're about...eight or nine. **

**If you have any critiques or suggestions, don't hesitate to share with me. **

**Until next time. **


	6. 3: Prankings

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

It was nearly midnight; the streets were dark, the town was quiet, and the people were asleep, as were the Fentons.

Except one Fenton.

Danny snuck down the stairs, being extremely quiet going down the creaky staircase. He squashed down the urge to giggle; this was just perfect!

It was a shame Sam couldn't help him, though. Her grandmother often stayed up late reading because of insomnia, and she had a sharp eye, so she couldn't sneak out. It didn't matter, though, at least she'd given him the idea. And he'd take pictures for her.

He headed down to the pantry flicking on a dim light. He smirked.

This was going to be epic.

* * *

The first thing Jazz noticed when she awoke was that her hair felt heavy. She scrunched up her face as she tried to bring herself to get up, but she was too tired.

Then she noticed the smell, and she woke up. She opened her eyes, and sat up.

There was some sort of fluffy cream on her hair and face. Whipped cream, said a small part of her mind that wasn't freaking out. It was spread all over the front of her hair, on her eyebrows, and under her nose, like a mustache.

She shakily moved the covers to get out of bed, gasping when she saw that by moving the covers, a string attached triggered something above her head. She quickly looked up, only to see a mountain of confetti and gummy bears cascade onto her head, sticking in the whipped cream.

She jumped out of her bed, staggering on the floor, trying to get out into the hall. There was sand of the floor-no, sugar-and stuck to her feet, which were sticky with syrup she'd stepped in.

"_Why? Why me?" _she thought miserably. _"What have I done wrong? And where the heck does he find the time and material to do this?!"_

When she finally reached her door, she failed to notice the cardboard bucket on top of it.

The bucket came down, popcorn came down, and Jazz screamed.

"_DANNY!_

* * *

Danny sighed as he pushed the vacuum back and forth across the carpet. Most of the sugar and syrup he'd spread on the floor was sucked up.

While his prank had been ingenious, it sure had consequences. He had to clean his sister's room, was grounded for the week, and on top of that, he had used all of his snacks for the prank.

The look of Jazzy's face was worth it, though. So were the pictures he'd taken.

"Danny?"

He turned off the vacuum and turned to the doorway, where his mother stood. She had been really mad when she saw what he'd done, but she had forgiven him by now.

"Sammy's leaving in an hour. Since you've made a lot of progress, I'll let you play and say goodbye."

He beamed He had known Sam was leaving and he'd really wanted to see her off. He cheered, and rushed out of his sister's room.

Sam was glad to see him, and the first thing she'd asked was how the prank went.

"It was awesome," he whispered to her. "I got in a lot of trouble, though."

"Aw, that sucks!" she said, looking guilty. "It's my fault, too…"

Danny giggled. "Nah, I probably would have done something similar anyway. The pictures were worth it, too."

"You'll send them to me, right?" she asked. "And send lots of letters?"

"Sure!" Danny smiled. "Tons of them!"

They played at Ida's house for a while, until her grandmother said it was time to head down to the airport. They whined, but they eventually said their goodbyes.

"I'll see you again, right?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah! I'll see you next summer! Maybe next time you can stay even longer!"

"Yeah!" Sammy's smile fell. "But I still don't wanna go…"

"Don't worry, Sam! I'll send you letters and stuff," Danny said.

Sammy pouted, and was about to say her name wasn't Sam, but stopped. Sam wasn't all that bad sounding. "Okay, Danny. I'll see you soon!" With that final goodbye, she hopped in the car and they drove off.

* * *

"Sammykins! How was your stay at Grandma's house?" Sam's mother asked when she got off the plane.

"It was great!" she said. "But...could you call me Sam?"

* * *

**So here's the final chapter in the...ings trilogy. I'll admit, the prank isn't that creative, and one of my reviewers suggested something better, but I figured they would probably want to write their own version if they wanted. **

**Sam won't be back for a while, but she will be back. She'll be moving to Amity Park right around when Danny's in middle school, and they'll reconnect then. **

**The next chapter will be coming soon, and it had Vlad in it. So be prepared!**

**Until next time. **


	7. Chilled Rage

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.**

* * *

The house was dark; without the lights, night made the shadows stick out against the faint glow of the moon and stars. And it creeped Jazz out.

Their parents were gone; her father had gotten a kidney stone and so her mother rushed him to the emergency room. She couldn't drag her kids along; Danny had a cold. So she left Jazz in charge while Danny sat on the couch, sniffling and wrapped up in a blanket.

They were both pretty much minding their own business until the power went out. Jazz looked around the suddenly dark living room, and sighed when she realized she wouldn't be able to finish her novel. Danny looked around with bleary, dazed eyes and then looked back at the now blank television.

"...Did you turn off the lights, Jazzy?" Danny asked in a quiet, raspy voice.

"No, it's a power out. We'll just have to wait until the lights turn back on."

"Oh," Danny said and he paused to yawn. "Okay."

It really weirded Jazz out whenever her brother got sick. Most of the time, he dedicated every waking moment to driving her insane; but now, he just didn't seem to care. She appreciated the calmness that went with it, however.

"I'm gonna go to be-" Danny choked on his last word, suddenly shivering violently. He sqeezed his eyes shut and curled in on himself under his blanket. Jazz shivered too; it had gotten very cold all of a sudden.

Jazz got out of her armchair, placing her book on the coffee table. She walked over to her brother, rubbing her arms. Her teeth chattered. "W-why's it so c-cold?"

Danny didn't answer; his teeth were chattering adn he was trembling. His cold felt worse.

"M-maybe the h-he-heat went out o-or s-s-something," Jazz said. She knew that couldn't be, since it was summer and not even this cold outside. "Let's g-" she cut off, her voicebox feeling as if it shrunk to the size of a dime in her throat as she felt the change in atmosphere.

The air felt thick; like it turned to liquid nitrogen. The air was cold, yet burning...burning with rage.

She had only felt something remotely like this was wehn the town marched to boycott a decision the mayor had passed. The people were like a mob she sees on T.V.; livid and uncontrollable.

Danny was frozen, his terrified eyes wide. Jazz seized him in an embrace, not quite sure if it was for his comfort or her's.

A low, echoing voice rang through the room, filled with bitterness and rage.

_...Children? Of all he has taken from me…_

They had started to nearly hyperventilate, but all they could do was listen to the chilling voice with no source but the ill will it emanated.

_...Miserable oaf...Should kill them now…_

Jazz let out a whimper and hugged Danny closer.

_...Yes…_

A loud knock on their door made Jazz scream and Danny jerk violently.

The knock came again, followed by a woman's voice. "Jasmine? Danny? Open the door, it's Ida!"

The two children sat there on the couch, frozen.

"Maddie is staying the night at the hospital with your father; she called me to look after you."

The children remained silent and frozen. The voice, however, did not.

_...Madeline...my love…_

The voice paused for a long moment. About a minute later, the rage left the air. The chill lessened, and the evil presence faded.

_...My children…_

With those last words, the presence was gone. Jazz let out a shaky breath and looked around the dark house.

The knock came again, and the siblings slowly turned toward the door.

"We've gotta let M-Mrs. McDevitt in," Danny said in a shaky, raspy voice.

Jazz nodded and let go of her brother. When she opened the door to let in their elderly neighbor, she immediately and almost involuntarily rushed in for a hug.

Ida hugged the girl back, though she was surprised. "Hey there, Jasmine. The black out scare you?"

Jazz, still buried in Ida's chest, nodded.

Ida smiled and led the girl back to Danny, who was still sitting on the couch.

"Let's light some candles then, alright?" Ida said as she smiled through the dark at the two shaken children.

* * *

Jazz sat on her bed, with her bear clutched tightly to her chest. She kept telling herself that it was a dream, a hallucination. But she couldn't get that chilling voice out of her head…

A soft knock made her nearly jump out of her skin. Before she could reach the door, it opened, revealing her little brother standing there with his pillow. In his free hand he had a handmade lock pick/skeleton key that he'd uesd to unlock her door.

"Danny? What is it?" she asked.

Danny looked at the floor, his face set in a pout. You could see the fear in his eyes, however.

"Jazzy...could I-er, would you…" he trailed off.

"What?" she said after a pause.

"Could I stay with you tonight?" he said in a fast whisper.

Jazz stared. She had certainly not expected that. She contemplated for a second, then said: "Alright, but no pranks, okay?"

He nodded, then jumped on her bed. He wobbled a bit, which made her giggle as she climbed in after him. They settled under the covers, glad for the warmth.

"No wetting my bed, you hear?" Jazz told Danny with a playful smile.

"Jazzy! I don't do that!" he whined, but the whine soon turned into a cough. Jazzy bit her lip and sighed.

"Just go to sleep, baby bro," she said as she closed her eyes, and Danny followed suit. They both fell asleep, and were both convinced the next morning that what happened was an ecto-weenie induced hallucination.

* * *

**The next chapter. Not gonna say much about it. Hope you liked it, review please, yadda yadda yadda. **

**Until next time.**


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